Number Nine

Extra: After All

February 2028

"Really, girl, your husband couldn't make it again?" one of her mom friends, Eloise, asked at one of Cassie and Theo's many school events.

"No," Lea said regretfully. "Tim's busy with work, I'm afraid. He's due to come home later this month, though."

"Well, that's exciting," another mom, Marianne, gushed. "I'm looking forward to meeting him."

Most of the other parents didn't know that Theo, Elle, and Cassie all had the same dad. In fact, she hadn't disclosed that little detail to any of them. Why would she? This meant, of course, that her friends had no idea that Livvy had ever been linked to Lea's husband at all.

"He's an absolute sweetheart," Livvy assured the group. "You'll all love him, I promise."

"I'm sure we will," Eloise said with a smile. "I don't think Lea would marry anyone who wasn't a good person."

Lea beamed. "Thank you, El. That's very sweet."

A few weeks later, meet him they did. Theo was going to be in his first performance that his preschool theater club was having, and Tim had taken time off from filming specifically to come watch.

She wore a white ankle-length Matoshi dress printed with different colored wildflowers, green Aera slingback heeled sandals, and some Harry Winston jewelry that Tim had gotten her for the holidays. In any case, she thought she looked perfect for the occasion. If only her husband's plane hadn't landed so recently, he could've been on time. Oh, alright. Realistically, he wouldn't have been on time anyway, but still. He could've gone with her, at least. He'd promised he'd be there, of course, and she didn't doubt that he was going as fast as he could. He'd most definitely showered and gotten ready on the plane.

Lea was chatting with Livvy, Eloise, and Marianne outside the school's theater when Tim rounded a corner so quickly he almost bumped into them.

He brightened immediately upon seeing her, but she frowned, reaching up to playfully flick his nose. "Watch where you're going."

Marianne and Eloise stared at Lea, shocked by what they perceived to be rudeness, but Livvy merely rolled her eyes.

Tim (who was, by this point, thirty-two, though he neither looked nor acted it despite having four children, two of whom were Lea's) grinned down at her, his eyes raking over her form with heated interest.

"You are the most exquisite creature I have ever beheld," he declared, his gaze fixating on the cleavage her dress revealed.

"She's married," Eloise said stiffly.

"I should hope so," he agreed without looking away from Lea, who now had a smile playing at her lips. "I'm sorry I'm late, sweetheart."

"You're always late," Lea reminded him helpfully.

He pouted. "This time was very much not my fault, though. In any case, I missed you dreadfully. When can we go home? Or to the car, at least?"

She pursed her lips. "Why?"

"Well," Tim began very slowly, as if he were speaking to a child instead of his twenty-six year old wife of nearly two years, "when a man loves a woman..."

Laughing, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss, which he returned with desperation. It was only when Livvy cleared her throat pointedly that Lea pushed off of him, as he'd given no indications of pulling away himself.

"Lea," Marianne said in a shaky voice, "who's your guest?"

Lea turned around slowly, her cheeks flaming. Tim did the same, though if he was embarrassed, he hid it with expertise. "God, where are my manners?" he said good-naturedly. "I apologize. I'm Timothée."